It seems like I’m always starting new companies and doing different things when the Day of Archaeology comes around. I think it’s important to keep things fresh and interesting. Before I talk about my day it’s become somewhat of a tradition with my posts to give an update of what I’m doing with my businesses. So, here it goes.

For my 2015 post I mentioned working on a couple of big projects. The one I was on at the time wrapped up in February of this year. I employed nine people over the course of the project, paid out over $250,000 in pay and per diem, surveyed 30,000 acres, recorded 165 sites, and over 2,000 isolated finds. It was quite the project and quite the year. Since then, I’ve focused on a few other things in this list. On the Day of Archaeology this year, however, I was preparing for four small projects that I’m doing in Elko, Nevada next week.

I’m not saying I won’t do any more projects this year, but, I’m not trying very hard.

The APN has had AN AMAZING YEAR since last year’s Day of Archaeology. We’ve added new shows and over 11,000 new monthly subscribers! That brings us to 21,000 monthly subscribers as of July! All that means more work for the few of us that are running it, though. If I wasn’t so passionate about public archaeology I’d consider taking a break for a bit. EVERY SINGLE DAY there is APN stuff to do. I love it, though, so I’ll keep going. A little funding wouldn’t hurt, though!

This new venture started at about the time of last year’s Day of Archaeology. I brought the idea to four of my employees at the time because I thought I’d finally found a group of people that could really help this take off. I was right!

We officially launched www.pcscourses.com in April and we’ve got a number of videos and resources up on the website. We also have a job posting site that isn’t getting much use yet, but, it will. Just need to spend more time promoting it.

Also this year, I became a 1/3 owner in a new joint venture called Pivot Environmental. It’s intended to be a full-service environmental firm like the big ones out there. However, it’s owned by specialists – a biologist, an environmental planner, and me, the archaeologist. Between the three of us we figure we can get more projects than by ourselves. Still laying the ground work, but, it’s promising.

Non – Archaeological Stuff

Civil Air Patrol

To add to my stress load, I accepted the position of Squadron Commander for the Reno Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol. We have about 36 adult members and over 40 cadets that range in age from 12 to 21. The CAP has three missions – Cadet Programs, Aerospace Education, and Emergency Services. I particularly enjoy the last one. Getting the call and mobilizing an aircrew and base staff for a live search and rescue makes me feel like I’m doing something that is bigger than me and give back to my community. I recommend it for everyone!

Finally, for the past three years I’ve been on the executive board of the Reno Freethinkers. We’re a secular organization that attempts to bring science and rational thought to Northern Nevada. I haven’t been able to do much this year, but, we have some interesting things planned for the coming months. Always busy.

Codifi is my primary focus right now. It’s a company centered around project management software for environmental projects. We’re focusing on archaeology early on, but, the architecture can be adjusted for any environmental project. We believe that archaeologists shouldn’t do office work and that fieldwork can be more efficient. Codifi can reduce office work and help you record archaeological sites in a way that was not possible until now. Check out the website and check back often for some amazing updates coming in the next couple months. I traveling to Italy for the month of August to continue development with my partner that is there now. We’re going to crush it!

My ACTUAL Day of Archaeology

A couple weeks ago we had a DJI Inspire Pro drone shipped for some work we want to do. I’ve been testing it in a variety of conditions. On today’s DOA I went to the house of some friends of mine. They are an archaeological couple that has worked in Nevada for over 40 years! They have some amazing stories!

Well, on that day I helped them get some images of their property. They have been making some landscaping improvements and have tried to reduce fire fuel in critical areas. I used the Autopilot App to create transects across their property and let the drone fly the flight pattern. It automatically took pictures on an interval that gave the shots enough overlap to stitch together. Also took some amazing video.

That’s pretty much it. If anyone wants to donate time or money to the APN or PCS PLEASE DO! They are both organization that I think are important for the field and help make us all better scientists and citizens.

Today, Lisa Maher is getting on a plane to return to her field project in Azraq, Jordan. It has been a fast and furious couple of days as the Codifi implementation team put some finishing touches on an alpha version of the EFAP1 Codifi database for her to play with on her iPad.

For this season, Lisa and her team will continue to document everything using paper forms, but one of the cool factors for Codifi is the ability to put everything into “context” – forms, photos, videos, people, events. Lisa will use Scanner Pro – an iPad app that will “scan” anything and turn it into multipage PDFs – for adding her paper forms directly to the Locus database entries. This will save scads of time in post-excavation.

This season is an opportunity for Lisa to give digital recording a try and provide us with real-world feedback on the application. We know we will learn a lot from the experience. The plan is to take the feedback and help her to produce a type specification that can be slotted into her forthcoming grant applications.

We will be reporting back with news as the season progresses on our blog!